THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[06:00:14]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are like the piggy bank that everybody is robbing and that ends.

JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: Canadians are polite, we're reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump fired back on Twitter accusing Trudeau of being dishonest and calling him mild and meek.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think we ever reached a point of such isolation for the U.S. and such a rupture with our traditional allies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From the point of view of his base, this is music to their ears.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Singapore, the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong- un has arrived there for the historic summit.

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Rest assured our president is going into this summit with his eyes wide open.

TRUMP: It's a onetime shot and I think it's going to work out very well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: A good Saturday to you. If you're watching in the U.S. good morning to you. If you're watching around the world welcome to NEW DAY.

Right now teams are making the final preparations for one of the most unusual, historic, and highly anticipated meetings in history.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: This morning North Korea's Kim Jong-un arrived in Singapore. Here are pictures we just received moments ago of his motorcade as he made his way to Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong. In just minutes he is actually going to sit down with Loong.

BLACKWELL: And these are live pictures now that he is en route to meet with Singapore's prime minister. We know that President Trump and his team are just a few hours behind fresh off the trip to the G7 where President Trump met with other world leaders and actually went against some of America's closest allies.

PAUL: All of this of course leading to this meeting that seems nearly impossible just months ago. A face-to-face sit-down between the leaders of the free world and one of the most notorious dictators in the world.

Our team of reporters are stationed around the globe here covering President Trump's biggest moment on the world stage thus far.

CNN's Nic Robertson live in South Korea. We start however with CNN's Kaitlan Collins who is live on the ground in Singapore.

Kaitlan, what do you know about this bilateral meeting now that we are just learning about between Kim Jong-un and Singapore's prime minister? Is this something that was planned?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christi, Kim Jong-un got here not long ago. He came through the city. He went to the hotel where he's staying, the St. Regis. And now he's scheduled to meet with the Singaporean prime minister.

Not a surprise exactly since that is who really negotiated this meeting to have this potentially historic sit-down between President Trump and Kim Jong-un here in Singapore. Certainly one of the few times that Kim Jong-un has traveled this far since he became and got to power (INAUDIBLE) the furthest he has traveled since taking over. So that will be a meeting they will likely discuss logistics and what not.

And also President Trump is schedule to meet with the Singaporean prime minister tomorrow where they will also likely discuss things like that. It's certainly a formality since they are here that Singapore is hosting this historic summit that is going to be happening.

But really we are here. It's too late to back out now for either of these leads. Kim Jong-un has arrived. President Trump will be here in a little over two hours.

Now we are getting closer and closer to a day and a meeting that a lot of people were not expecting to happen. Something that President Trump, when he was in Canada at the G7 said that Kim Jong-un essentially has a onetime shot for his country here.

And also noted something that raised a few eyebrows. He said he thinks he'll be able to tell within the first minute of sitting down with the North Korean dictator whether or not he is serious about committing to denuclearization. Now of course that raised a lot of eyebrows because how could you tell something like that in just a minute but that really goes back to everything that President Trump has said about the summit since he first accepted to meet with the North Korean leader back in March.

The president just a few days before departing said that he felt that this was less about preparation and more about his attitude going into this meeting. He does seem to think that this is more about what his relationship with Kim Jong-un is going to be like. Something that the president has looked forward to, been almost optimistic about.

So that will be the question that everybody is waiting to see what exactly is it that goes on during that conversation and what happens when these two people sit down together.

PAUL: All right. Kaitlan, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Let's go now to Nic Robertson there in Seoul.

Nic, there in South Korea for obvious reasons the country has a lot of interest in what is happening but President Moon as well has invested a lot personally in the success of this upcoming meeting.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hugely. And it's greatly anticipated here. There was real concern, if you go back less than a year ago, that there could be a wide-scale war on the Korean Peninsula.

[06:05:06]

So for President Moon, the fact that President Trump and Kim Jong-un can sit down together and talk about what had become such a war of words between them is a hugely positive thing. The way that it's being viewed here is let's not -- let's not worry about if Kim Jong-un and his dynasty before him, his father and his grandfather have lied in the past to America presidents as they have this could be a different situation.

The South Koreans believing it's a different situation, believing that some change could happen here. President Moon has been accused of sort of overselling, over spinning, overplaying this. But from a South Korean perspective, anything that can head off, put off the possibility of what will be a hugely ugly war, you know, conventional weapons that North Korea has lined up could easily target this city, the capital Seoul, millions of people would be at risk.

That is not something any leader wants for their country. So the opportunity here is exactly how -- exactly how President Moon sees the situation, hopes it will play out.

South Korea has had its dialogue ongoing for the past couple of months with the North Koreans. There are pieces set to sort of -- if the meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un goes well, there are pieces set, diplomatic pieces ready for the South Koreans to begin to roll out. So they are anticipating and hoping that they will, after this summit, have something to build on. PAUL: And, Kaitlan, I wanted to ask you about this second meeting possibly -- OK. I apologize. We do not have Kaitlan but we do have Manisha Tank. She's live outside the St. Regis where Kim Jong-un is staying.

Manisha, we heard Donald Trump -- President Trump say if all goes as well there could be a second meeting, this could go into a second day. Do we know if Kim Jong-un prepared for that?

MANISHA TANK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So far, we haven't had anything to substantiate anything point like that from the North Korean leader. But what I can tell you is that there is quite a bit of activity unfolding right behind me.

So we are opposite the St. Regis Hotel here in Singapore. Kim Jong- un, the leader of North Korea here right here at about 3:00 p.m. He walked legibly through the lobby to the elevators what would assume straight to his rooms along with his entourage.

But what is actually unfolding behind us at the moment is we've seen a number of North Korean guards. We can tell them because they're in that black suit and they have red badges on their lapels. They have fanned (ph) out and they have blocked pedestrians from walking in front of the hotel.

Now this suggests to us, since that was open until just a couple of minutes ago, that that motorcade may be due to leave just minutes away as you -- as we heard earlier in the program, we know that Kim Jong-un is going to be meeting the prime minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, that is further down that way, so that motorcade is expected to come out behind me any minute and what we are looking for.

But we did have eyes on what was happening inside the hotel when he arrived as I mentioned earlier. And there is a huge security presence here.

Let's remember be mindful of the fact that it is both the United States and North Korea that reached out to Singapore to say let's host the summit there. Now Singapore has so much going for it in the sense particularly in terms of how easy it is to lock down sections of the city to make them secure.

We have already heard how much hinges on this possibly, you know, putting peace on the agenda and we saw momentous summit between the North and the South on April 27th that really set that ball rolling. And so, yes, everything to play for here in Singapore. Although Donald Trump -- President Donald Trump has indicated that a lot of this will be about attitude and rapport when he was interviewed and asked about how he is preparing for this.

He was saying indicating that possibly not too much because a lot of this is going to boil down to those assessments that you make in the first few seconds and this is why being here and seeing this unfold is important because the scrutiny is very key. It's all about intent. It's all about whether every party here is taking this seriously and, so far, they certainly are and we are seeing clockwork operation unfolding right before our eyes.

BLACKWELL: It's important to put all of this obviously into context as we have covered these types of events before for other world leaders to cover this and if Kim Jong-un, a man who for the first several years of his heading the government in North Korea did not leave his country and now in the last 60 days meeting a spate of world leaders and leading up to this summit. It is remarkable how quickly all of this has happened.

TANK: Well, it's quite incredible. If you look back over the last year it was almost 12 months to this week when we were seeing missile testing happening and in the last six months, the kind of level of change is really quite dramatic. Now we know that previous U.S. administrations had a very different view on this and actually I'm going to just wrap on that took second because you can now see what is happening behind me.

[06:10:05]

We are getting some movement. We are getting a number of the police motorcycles coming out but the team is telling me we are just going to hold back on whether or not we know the motorcade is coming. We are expecting it but a whole line of police motor bikes have pulled out right behind me.

And we are seeing a bit of activity there. So when it -- when it happens we will let those pictures roll for you. But, yes, this is a really, really big moment.

And it's very important to note the time line and how rapidly this has moved. Lots of people are asking why has it moved suddenly so quickly? Now if you speak to a number of experts out there and they will say maybe some of this boils down to economics.

The Trump administration has gone hard on these sanctions and that means even secondary sanctions on Chinese and Russian sources that were helping the North Koreans move money around and so when you get that level of constrictions there is nowhere else to go. Perhaps that is what has -- part of what has brought leader Kim Jong-un to the table.

But what we'll see unfold on Sentosa Island is just so key. Yes, there have been these comments that we could see the summit run a few days. We are going to look for that but a lot of this is going to boil down to the real details.

There is the key question of a denuclearization. When you see that threat removed that is only when you can start discussing peace and let's not forget that it was an armistice that was decided upon in 1953. We're talking about more than 60 years of history.

A momentous moment of course for Singapore. This little red dot in Southeast Asia which some people may not realize is one of the few countries that has diplomatic relations with both the United States and with North Korea. Reported the North Korean embassy here is in a high-rise building like much of Singapore.

So this is a hugely historic moment as we wait for Kim Jong-un to go and meet Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, a very big moment and we're keeping an eye on things for you right here. We have a source -- we have eyes on what has been going on inside the hotel.

It's been very interesting. A big security lockdown. Those guards with those red badges on their lapels fanning out before Kim Jong-un arrived.

We know that he got to the airport at about 2:30. It took about an hour for the motorcade to get here.

I'm a Singapore resident. I was inundated with messages from people about which roads are functioning and which ones are not, but that is the beauty of this place that this can be done with such ease and convenience.

PAUL: All right. Manisha Tank, thank you so much for walking us through that.

We want to a quick break. We are back in just a moment with further coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:42]

BLACKWELL: We are pushing forward on the breaking news happening right now. We know that just minutes from now North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un will be meeting with Singapore's prime minister.

PAUL: Yes. He arrived this morning. He was greeted as he stepped off the plane but this is ahead of the historic summit between the U.S. and North Korea on Tuesday.

BLACKWELL: President Trump will arriving there in Singapore in just a couple of hours and we will witness history as this will be the first meeting between the leaders of the two countries that had been feuding for decades.

PAUL: As we watch the North Korean leader is what we're doing right now. There's a live picture for you outside -- excuse me -- the St. Regis in Singapore where he is staying.

Manisha Tank is with us. Manisha, walk us through what has happened in the last couple of seconds and what you are seeing now?

TANK: OK. So we did see the police come out on motor bikes and lineup. They have now fanned out down the street as far as my eye can see.

We also see a number of vehicles which are lined up to my left and those vehicles will start moving. That is, as we understand it, is Kim Jong-un's motorcade is going to head down this road which is a main thoroughfare here in Singapore, on the way to go and see Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. So we are just waiting for that motorcade to start moving.

Now the police as far as you can see are making their way down. Can I just point out that this is one of the busiest thoroughfares in this city so it is a major security effort to lock this down which is why we are seeing a very big police presence.

We have seen special ops commandos from the police. This is a special unit within the police force as well. We have seen them (INAUDIBLE) and all of their gear.

But what we have also seen is a number of North Korean guards. We can tell them because they -- who they are because they wear these black suits and they have red badges on their lapels. They found out just about 10 minutes ago and indicated to us that something was going to be happening, that they would be moving pretty soon.

So we are waiting for, what you can see -- I believe you can see there are barricades siphoning off that part of the road from the hotel making it easy for them to manage the security going in and out.

Now we have eyes on what was unfolding inside the hotel. We know that the presence of guards, of security, of police in there was very strong.

People's bags were being checked. People were told they could not stand when the North Korean leader walked in, that they should sit down, their bags were checked. They were not allowed to use their phones.

And when he arrived he walked in a legibly fashion at about 3:40 p.m. after that flight over from Pyongyang, they landed here in Singapore at about 2:30. So quite a lot has been unfolding last few hours here.

But let's just revisit again one of the reasons why this has been a very -- an interesting place to hold the summit. Singapore is this country which is quite red. It has diplomatic relations with the United States and also with North Korea.

So that, in itself, is a very important angle on this. Also Singapore is the kind of country where security is taken very, very seriously. There are whole parts of this city that are being locked down to make it convenient for leaders to get in and out of the key areas, of the key hotels where they are staying.

And of course, on Sentosa Island, this is a resort island and it is only connected to the main land of Singapore by a bridge and in fact a cable car.

[06:20:00]

Not that I think any leaders will be using that but that is the connection and so they can lock down the whole of Sentosa at the Cappella Resort, that is where the summit will be taking place.

This is a very important moment of course for President Donald Trump and of course for the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un but it's also a very important time for Singapore which is seen as a neutral zone in all of this, in Southeast Asia. And so there has been a great narrative in the local press on that.

And, you know, some embracing the opportunity on a local levels and others somewhat nervous about the disruption that it might cause to their lives. But key in all of this, of course, is whether or not we will see peace come out of this summit.

Let's not forget that since 1953 an armistice has been in place between the two Koreas, North and South. Now armistice does not mean peace and this is something that in the last six months or so we are beginning to see a work towards in particular of course that summit between the north and south which was so instrumental in firmly putting this agenda and really paving the way for this summit to take place.

Now, of course, because of the involvement of the United States representing the United Nations during the Korean War in the early 1950s it meant that there is not going to be a peace unless the U.S. comes to the table and is a part of this --

PAUL: All right. We apologize. It seems like we have lost our signal there with Manisha.

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's bring in Chris Lu, former assistant to President Obama and former White House cabinet secretary.

Chris, good morning to you. First, let's go to the question of this bilateral between Kim and Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore. What is on the table for them this morning, they are scheduled to meet in about 10 minutes?

CHRIS LU, FORMER ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, look, I think it's not only about discussing the last-minute logistics of the final summit but I think it's a chance for Prime Minister Lee to sort of get a read on where Kim is, how he's going to approach the negotiations. I suspect he won't be that out front and sort of asking that question.

But think President Trump has -- certainly has an advantage because he'll be meeting with Prime Minister Lee tomorrow so he'll get a chance to get the read from the Singapore prime minister about where Kim's head is and certainly that can help, you know, adjust some of the last-minute preparations for the summit.

PAUL: So President Trump has said that this is unknown territory, it's a onetime shot. It could go into two days.

What has to happen in your opinion for this to be a win for the United States?

LU: Well, I think that's the biggest challenge right now. I mean, what we have learned from the way that the president handles foreign policy and really domestic policy as well is that appearances matter for him.

And on this issue right now on appearances matter there is both the opportunity and the challenge. The challenge right now is that by standing there with Kim he has already handed Kim an important public relations victory. Kim is now seen as a respectable foreign leader.

So the key is for President Trump what he can get in exchange for that. If I were betting I would strongly bet that this summit goes well beyond whatever the period of time has been planned for and I think it will be strongly in President Trump's interest to try to come up with something that looks like this is simply more than a one-off meeting.

I think he really wants to show tangible progress. And the other hallmark of what we have seen of the president's leadership the past 18 months is that he likes to improvise. So it's very likely that he sees the meeting potentially yielding some results, he'll keep it going.

BLACKWELL: All right. Chris Lu, a former assistant to President Obama and a former deputy secretary of labor, thank you so much.

Live pictures here out of Singapore just outside of the St. Regis there. You see a quickening of some of Kim Jong-un security.

You see some cars moving there. We know that we are just about six or seven minutes away now from the scheduled start time of this meeting between Kim and the Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, that's to happen in just a few minutes.

Just to inform you that tomorrow President Trump is also supposed to meet with the prime minister but you see here --

PAUL: But this is an interesting picture. Of course, we see the motorcade but to see the men, assuming security, running alongside it.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: That is something that we don't normally see, even in these motorcades when there is an exceptional amount of security involved.

BLACKWELL: Manisha Tank reminded us of something that's pretty important here and why Singapore was chosen, that Singapore has diplomatic relations with both the U.S. and North Korea. Although of late the North Korean embassy has been downsized and there are few people there.

Singapore also abiding by the restrictions and sanctions placed on North Korea and cutting visas for a lot of the North Korean workers.

[06:25:07]

A very small population of North Koreans in Singapore now. Let's bring Manisha Tank back in --who is there just across from the St. Regis.

What are you seeing? Do we have Manisha?

TANK: Well, if you can hear me, we have just seen the motorcade go past and we saw leader Kim Jong-un's stretch limousine go past us with its flags and we saw security guards running alongside. The police have gone ahead to clear the roads.

I do want to point out that this is probably one of the busiest thoroughfares in Singapore. So to clear this is a huge effort but they are going to make their way all the way down what we famously call -- the very famous Orchard Road with the Singaporean police clearing the way.

We also had a number of the North Korean guards. They were also on duty, a huge police operation here. So that is what we just witnessed.

They have now left the St. Regis Hotel. They are making their way to that meeting with the Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong which of course will be a very important indicator of intent in all of this and where this might go.

So interesting to hear the analysis there on how this could certainly be of some assistance to President Donald Trump who will meet Singapore's prime minister tomorrow. Of course, Kim Jong-un he was greeted on the ground here by the foreign minister, the Singapore foreign minister, Vivian Balakrishnan, who sent out -- who tweeted out a photo of the two of them meeting and shaking hands for everyone to see but, of course, this is a hugely -- a huge moment for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

He has never seen travel like this or met world leaders in this manner and to be on this stage in some writers looking at this -- looking at -- from the point of history and for how important this moment is, pointing out that he has nothing to lose, everything to gain and, of course, everyone wanting to know why now? But even if you answer the why now there are many in Korea who have lost their families, who still have families members who are unaccounted for from that war and they will be looking at this with a great deal of hope.

BLACKWELL: Manisha Tank there in Singapore outside of Kim's hotel. Live pictures here. This is the motorcade.

Kim Jong-un en route to his first official meeting this week. This is, of course, as we said with the prime minister of Singapore. This is all leading up to the meeting on Tuesday with President Trump.

President Trump is en route to Singapore, is scheduled to arrive in fewer than two hours now and he will be meeting with the prime minister tomorrow morning.

Quick break. We will be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:22]

BLACKWELL: All right. Just moments ago this is Kim Jong-un's motorcade. He is en route to meet with Singapore's prime minister. Kim arrived in Singapore this morning, of course, he is preparing for this historic sit-down with President Trump on Tuesday.

PAUL: President Trump is still en route on Air Force One, expected to land later this morning. He will also meet with Singapore's prime minister before his summit with Kim Jong-un.

CNN is covering this story from all angles.

BLACKWELL: Now let's go to CNN's Kaitlan Collins, Paula Hancocks, there in Singapore. Chris Lu is in Washington, Nic Robertson in Seoul.

Kaitlan, first to you the president has said that there is only one deal that can be made after this meeting or a series of meetings and that is the denuclearization of North Korea. But we still don't have what the clear definition is that the U.S. and North Korea share on what denuclearization will mean.

COLLINS: That's right, Victor. We don't.

We have seen them change the goalpost here and by "them" I mean, the U.S. of what their expectations are for this meeting. Back in March when President Trump first accepted this it was very clear he wanted denuclearization and the way he talks about it what that he assumed essentially that it was going to happen during that the first sit-down with Kim Jong-un.

But since the meeting was called off and then called back on again we have seen the White House essentially tapping (ph) down their expectations for this meeting saying it's a meet and greet, get to know you. Plus, the president saying this is a first of a series of meetings that could happen going forward, including potentially inviting him to Washington, D.C., something the president just brought up a few days ago during a press conference at the White House. But also we have seen them discuss what they are going to expect to get out of this meeting and it does seem that they are expecting something more along the lines of symbolic gesture from the North Koreans, instead of these concrete commitments that they initially said that they were expecting.

So that is really what is at stake here. What is the outcome of this meeting going to be? Because sitting down with a U.S. president is a big win for Kim Jong-un.

It really establishes a lot of power for him. It shows that he is a world leader. But for President Trump, the question remains is what exactly he is getting from sitting down with him and that has been the question here.

But I should note that President Trump is cautiously optimistic about this meeting but he has stated multiple times that if he gets to this meeting and he doesn't feel that he is getting what he wants and what he expects from the North Korean leader he is happy to walk away within minutes. So that is really something to look for overall the big picture there.

[06:35:00] Small picture here. We have Kim Jong-un here. He is staying at the St. Regis Hotel.

Somewhere I should note that his brother -- his half-brother Kim Jong- nam actually used to stay quite often. That is the same brother that Kim Jong-un reportedly had killed with a chemical attack at an airport just last year.

So it really goes to show the dichotomy here. You remember something like that about this North Korean dictator, someone who has all these human rights things that are -- need to be brought up by the U.S. side, people say, experts say, and then it's really him with this flurry of diplomatic activity lately.

Now before President Trump left the White House to go to Canada on Friday for that G7 summit he took reporter -- questions from several reporters, including myself, and I asked him are you going to bring up human rights when you sit down face-to-face with Kim Jong-un? He answered pretty quickly.

He said, yes, that he was going to bring it up. They would talk about it when they sat down in Singapore here on Tuesday morning.

But we should note that when the president was meeting with Kim Yong- chol, someone who is accompanying Kim Jong-un on this trip, the president said they did not bring human rights up even though they met in the Oval Office for more than 90 minutes. That was that meeting that really reestablished this summit.

So many things to keep an eye on here and that is just one of the few, Victor and Christi.

PAUL: All right. Kaitlan, thank you. I do believe we want you to stick around.

We want to go to Paula Hancocks as well. As we look at these pictures just coming in to us from moments ago. North Korean dictator there, Kim Jong-un, of course, meeting with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

They are going to have a bilateral meeting here. Interestingly, of course, as they go into this meeting, we know that President Trump on his way here will also have his own meeting with Singapore's prime minister tomorrow before he meets -- these as I understand it, live pictures of this meeting. Look at the delegations that are there.

We know that the North Korean leader does have a translator with him as well as we see a lot of handshaking and a lot of meets and greets there, obviously, before these two leaders sit down together. Most likely to discuss logistics.

Do we have Paula? Is Paula with us?

Paula, I wanted to ask you real quickly --

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Yes. PAUL: -- so when we look at -- when we look at these pictures of this meeting, what could Singapore's prime minister essentially assess from this meeting that could help when he meets with President Trump tomorrow?

HANCOCKS: Well, Victor and Christi, I think the first thing to mention is just how significant this is. This is the North Korean leader who just, six months ago, had never left his own country as far as we know while he had been in power. He had never met another world leader.

Not even Xi Jinping, the leader of China. He was his main ally. His -- the country effectively keeping the country afloat economically.

And now you see him here coming and shaking hands with the Singaporean prime minister. Tomorrow he's going to meet -- I'm sorry. Tuesday he is going to meet the most powerful man in the world, the U.S. president.

It's really quite remarkable to get to this point. And one thing I did notice as well, watching him coming from the airport, there were people lining some of the streets. Obviously, the streets were closed off to get him to the St. Regis.

Many, obviously, had their cell phones up. They were recording it for posterity. And many people, whether they were Singaporeans, whether they were tourists were waving at the convoy.

This is a North Korean dictator who is driving through the streets of Singapore and he is being waved at by tourists so it's really quite remarkable to just sit back and think about what is happening here, just how historic this is.

Now clearly what the prime minister would want to be doing at this point is make him feel welcome. This is a very big moment for Singapore, a tiny city state of 5.5 million people, to be host to something so historic is truly quite remarkable for them. But, clearly, what Kim Jong-un says to him and the indications of willingness to cooperate that the North Korean leader could get to him -- could then be passed on to the U.S. president tomorrow, Tuesday, local time -- Monday, local time, when the Singaporean prime minister meets him as well.

BLACKWELL: Standby. Let's bring in Nic Robertson who is Seoul.

I want to drive home this point, Nic, this get to know you meeting that's coming Tuesday between President Trump and Kim Jong-un, obviously, the end goal is to denuclearize. However if that does not happen and the president comes back to Washington without getting that, Kim goes back to Pyongyang with legitimacy, having sat in with the president, having sat with Lee Hsien Loong, having sat with Xi, with Lavrov, with Moon, part of his goal is already reached.

[06:40:02]

ROBERTSON: Yes. It's an immediate part of his goal and sort of gives him a bigger capacity back home to be able to say, look, I'm on the world stage, everything we've doing, the impoverishment that I've inflicted on the country it's all been worthwhile because we are being taken seriously by the United States. The United States is our biggest enemy.

There's certainly a belief that, you know, over the past couple of years has really accelerated his nuclear weapons developments, his ICBM development, so that he can target the United States. And there's a strong view that that has cost the economy a lot and therefore cost the people a lot so a lot has been sacrificed.

So the sort of the messaging there is that he has got his strategies right and he is rewarded for all of that by meeting President Trump. But there's something else that's very important for him to be able to take back or at least know he know that he can get further down the road and that is money because sanctions have been biting the economy is hurting and it's widely believed that it's what is brought to the table here, so he can't really leave without having found leverage or openings to get some infusion of some money.

So those meetings he has with President Xi Jinping of China, the meeting the he had with Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister recently, all of those we can likely believe that he will be exploring and they will be exploring with him. Avenues, you know, to direct his attention to them, to shape his focus perhaps away from the United States. But it does come down to the core issue of denuclearization and on that and how these talks will go.

Secretary of state Mike Pompeo said, look, first of all when the (INAUDIBLE) get together we know President Trump has said I can tell if he wants to make a deal or not but, you know, if they are stay in the room is in the conversation Pompeo said is going this way. Finding a way that both countries can mutually assure each other of security. That is the first hurdle.

The next one, Mike Pompeo said would be political, you know, how the countries can get along politically. What can their future political relationship be?

All of that before that core denuclearization issue. So President Trump may well leave with having established a decent rapport, perhaps addressing the, you know, the armistice of 1953, the war on the Korean Peninsula, perhaps having found some agreements on security but maybe not on the denuclearization issue. That's where expectations have been set.

So, yes, as you say, Kim Jong-un could leave this taking away more from this first meeting than President Trump will. The success here is going to be the long-term security and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

PAUL: Nic, it's not lost on any of us as we watch these pictures, that this is a dictator, a leader, Kim Jong-un, who lives in a space where he has full control. He rarely gets out of his own country. He has control of the people around him, of his environment. Is this -- as President Trump said, it's unknown territory, but with Kim Jong-un outside of his element very literally here, how might that dynamic affect what happens the next 24, 48 hours?

ROBERTSON: Sure. Well, he has been able to appear fairly comfortable and he smiles in his photographs. If you look at the first one, first meeting he had with Xi Jinping in China, in Beijing in the past couple of months he went there secretly by train.

We didn't know it was definitely him until he got back to North Korea. There were smiles there. He was seemingly comfortable, comfortable enough to take a second meeting at another location, seemingly very happy and on a huge charm offensive with the South Korean president, President Moon, when they met on the DMZ.

The images from there made Kim Jong-un look as if he was quite at ease. But, yes, Singapore potentially out of his comfort zone. I was looking at the pictures there trying to read on his face what he was thinking. He was listening there to the interpreter translating what the prime minister was saying.

He didn't look like, you know, he was happy and jolly, that he was taken -- that he is taking the situation very seriously. Clearly security for him is a huge issue, Singapore, obviously, reassuring him that he has that while he's in the country. But it must play on his mind.

He'll be looking at President Trump's time at the G7 and realizing that this is a guy, whatever else, anyone else says, plays absolute hardball and President Trump has been making that clear in his statements on the way to Singapore. So, yes, undoubtedly one can expect some apprehension being taken out of his comfort zone strange leader (ph), strange country.

This is -- this is perhaps not the ideal situation for him but he knows that he is gaining a lot from it.

[06:45:03]

BLACKWELL: All right. Nic Robertson for us there in Seoul, thank you.

Paula Hancocks and Kaitlan Collins as well joining us from Singapore.

Kim Jong-un is in the city there. He is meeting with the prime minister. We will take a quick break and continue our coverage in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: We're going to get you back to Singapore in just a minute here.

But first there was perfection on the track, people. Justify winning the Belmont Stakes yesterday to claim the Triple Crown.

[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: Andy Sholes was there and he is in New York this morning with your "Bleacher Report." Andy?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys. You know, it was such an incredible moment. The atmosphere at Belmont Park was just electric.

One of the coolest sports moments I've ever been a part of. This "Bleacher Report" brought to you by Ford, going further so you can.

I actually talked with Justify's trainer Bob Baffert before the race and he told me he wanted to win this race so badly because Justify to him was like LeBron James, just a dominate athlete. Justify did not disappoint in this one.

He led wire-to-wire to become the 13th horse in history to win the Triple Crown. Justify joined Seattle Slew as the only two horses to win it undefeated.

And for trainer Bob Baffert this is his second Triple Crown in four years. He also trained America Pharaoh. And Baffert now is just one of two trainers in history to have won two Triple Crowns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB BAFFERT, TRAINER FOR JUSTIFY: I think everybody wants to see this happen because he is such -- he's a beautiful horse and he is just -- it's like -- he has (ph) to (ph) able (ph) to (ph) win. He is so tough and he is just -- an imposing horse.

MIKE SMITH, JOCKEY FOR JUSTIFY: I think he is the greatest of all time. I just won the Triple Crown, man.

(LAUGHTER)

SMITH: He is my champion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Fifty-two-year-old jockey Mike Smith all smiles after the race. Baffert also says he was happy for Smith that he was able to win a Triple Crown so late in his career.

Now coming in second yesterday was Gronkowski, the horse names after Rob Gronkowski, the Patriots' tight end actually owns a small stake in the horse. This is a huge off set considering the horse (INAUDIBLE) winning were 24-1 and Gronk, as you can see is pretty pumped watching because Gronkowski went from last in this race and roared all the way back to take second place right behind Justify.

And NBC Sports Philadelphia actually had fun with the fact the horse got second tweeting out that Gronkowski finished second again of course referencing how the Eagles beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

All right. The Capital Stanley Cup celebration rolling through the weekend. Their star Alex Ovechkin throwing out the first pitch at the Nationals game yesterday.

He must have been a little too excited because he sailed the pitch all the way over the plate. But Ovechkin wanted another chance at it. Give me one more.

You normally don't get that but just deliver the city a championship so they gave him one. As you can see, it was much better. The party continued throughout the afternoon.

Ovechkin doing a keg stand outside of the Stanley Cup (INAUDIBLE) then he decided to jump in a nearby fountain to have some fun. To cap off the night he went to get some dinner and guess who he ran into? First doubt Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner.

And they all took a picture together, guys. And the jokes on Twitter as you can imagine were all that Trump was meeting with the Russians again. So, there you go.

BLACKWELL: All right. Andy Scholes, thank you so much.

PAUL: Thank you, Andy.

We're going to get you back to Singapore. We have this picture here from just a little while ago of Kim Jong-un, North Korean leader, on his way to meet the Singapore's prime minister with the security detail running next to him until he got to a certain point in that route.

We're going to take you back there as they are meeting right now. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:57:36]

BLACKWELL: All right. We just saw North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un this morning meeting with Singapore's prime minister. Of course, he is preparing for his historic sit-down with President Trump on Tuesday.

PAUL: President Trump is still en route this hour. Air Force One expected to land there in a few hours.

But President Trump and President (ph) Trudeau are engaged in some back and forth that seems to be getting a little more nasty after the G7 summit. President Trump lashing out at the Canadian prime minister after he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUDEAU: I have made it very clear to the president that it is not something we relish doing but it is something that we absolutely will do because Canadians are polite, we are reasonable but also will not be pushed around.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: President Trump was quick to respond and you know where, on Twitter, calling Mr. Trudeau "dishonest and weak" in saying the U.S. will pull back from its endorsement of the G7 summit's communique.

CNN's Paula Newton is live from Ottawa. Paula, hello to you. What is the reaction from Canada?

You can imagine the reaction publicly was a little bit different than that behind the scenes but let me give you the first statement here saying that, look, we as Canadians remain focused on what we accomplished at the G7 summit.

But the prime minister saying, look, I've said this before both in public and private whatever I said in the press conference is not different. The centerpiece of the G7 summit that Donald Trump pulled out of was trade and after hours -- overnight hours trying to get some progress on that they think that they did made some progress on that. Apparently though the president not taking kindly to Justin Trudeau's very frank comments in that press conference.

Christi, Victor, I have to remind you, look, the president arrived late to that summit. He left early. He crashed the party by trying to suggest that Russia should have been included in.

Above all that, they tried to get some work done. Instead they got headlines. That is Trump drops the bombshell, unity torpedoed. It certainly sets up for an interesting relationship to come in the next few months.

This all started out let's remember with Trudeau trying to charm Donald Trump and it hasn't worked out that way.

BLACKWELL: It sure hasn't. Paula Newton for us there in Ottawa. Paula, thank you.

Next hour of NEW DAY starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: We are like the piggy bank that everybody is robbing and that ends.

TRUDEAU: Canadians are polite, we're reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around.